1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a shaped section for guiding and sealing of a movable window, such as those in motor vehicle doors and more particularly, to a shaped section for use with a motor vehicle door having a flush-type window.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
In published French Patent Application No. 2,596,138, the present Applicant has described a shaped section made from an extruded elastomer and having a metal reinforcement. A first part of the shaped section, forming a clamp, enables it to be fastened onto the frame of the movable window, and a second part, having a U-shaped section and termed a "slide", serves as a guidance and sealing member for the movable window. Between these two parts, a U-shaped third part, which is rigidly integral with the first part, may accommodate an auxiliary shaped section forming a weatherstrip of the type termed a "lapping member", at least one lip of which laps the outer face of the closed window. This lapping member may also form an integral part of the shaped section.
According to this patent application, the first part which forms a clamp and the second part which forms the guidance member are mutually articulated by means of a resilient hinge produced by bending the central portion of the metal reinforcement of the shaped section prior to the extrusion of the elastomer onto the reinforcement. This bent portion then is cut off after the extrusion so that the reinforcement is removed. However, a fraction of the elastomeric covering remains, which thereby forms the connecting hinge.
In its published application for a certificate of addition No. 8,716,334 in France No. 2,623,596, the Applicant subsequently proposed an improved variant of this shaped section in which the resilient hinge permits not only a relative pivoting of the parts of the shaped section which it joins, but also a translational movement of the slide substantially in the plane of displacement of the movable window. A shaped section of this type may be produced in a simple manner by forming a metal strip which is intended to form the reinforcement into the appropriate shape by cutting this strip longitudinally into two fractions at a location corresponding to that of the resilient flexible hinge. The elastomer is simultaneously extruded onto the two fractions of strip which are in an appropriate adjacent position and have been previously coated with an agent promoting the adhesion of this elastomer onto the metal of the strip. This coating may be carried out before or after the shaping of the metal strip.
In a further embodiment of such a method, the cutting of the metal strip takes place immediately after the extrusion of the elastomer, which covers the whole of the two portions of strip so as to produce a single shaped section comprising the articulating hinge and the sealing lips.
The translational movement of the slide which serves as a guidance member for the movable window occurs at the end of the movement of the window, when it reaches the closed position. The edge of the window presses this part towards the adjacent part of the frame with a simultaneous pivoting movement relative to the part forming a clamp. This movement ensures an improved sealing of the window while at the same time facilitating its displacement.
The present invention relates to a variant embodiment of a shaped section of this type intended to be fitted to door frames having an unrounded corner part with a small radius of curvature. In such door frames, it is known to reinforce the corresponding parts of the weatherstrips by molding an additional part, which expands to the shape of the frame, onto the sealing lip or onto the tubular element which this lip adjoins. (See, e.g., published French Patent Application No. 2,624,191.)
The shaped section described in the abovementioned application for a certificate of addition No. 8,716,334 is suitable for rounded corners of a window frame which have a large radius of curvature but is not entirely appropriate for window frames having corners with an acute angle or a small radius of curvature.